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News & Current Events Mar 27, 2026 at 2:24 PM

India clears military purchases worth $25 billion to buy aircraft, Russian S-400 missile systems

Posted by Uchiha_Madara_Nipple

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Excellent_Safe_1915 Mar 27, 2026 +148
Title can be a bit misleading. The clearance include several of arms/defense equipments. S-400 is only one of them. So, it is not 25 billion all going to Russia.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +27
Ru has been a very important arms supplier to India. The fact they are resuming says alot.
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Aedeus Mar 27, 2026 +28
I don't think it's resuming so much as it is fulfilling an existing obligation.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +1
Yeah, they are not on pause anymore, maybe.
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lazymomo5 Mar 27, 2026 +11
What else are they supposed to do? And why shouldn't they resume purchase from Russia?
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +4
Its more about Russia having excess capacity than India buying them.
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lazymomo5 Mar 27, 2026 +2
Okay!
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +2
The only reason they paused them was for fear of incurring US sanctions. Maybe they've had some discussions with Trump on that.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026
Idia and Turkyie have been able to get out of sanctions with claims about the interconnectedness of their markets. Sort of like Finland during the cold war. They got the best of both worlds by trading goods east and west and having their social services funded and being an autonomous member of the USSR.
0
1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +4
> Idia and Turkyie have been able to get out of sanctions with claims about the interconnectedness of their markets. > > India got a waiver from Biden specifically for the S-400 deal after months of suspense. Turkey was punished by excluding it from the F-35 program. Considering the sanctions Trump imposed over Russian oil it's not clear India will get the same accommodation today for new purchases of Russian weapon systems.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +353
The shocking news should be that Russia has extra capacity for exports. Also, with the end of oil sanctions, this is billions more for their war...
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Away-Personality-839 Mar 27, 2026 +149
The first Battery of S400 purchased was delayed. Historically, all Russian weapon purchase delivery are delayed
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DissKhorse Mar 27, 2026 +7
Russia has so far produced 1 of these locally at the cost of 2.5 billion, triple the projected cost and then Ukraine blew it up so this is a horrible investment. They brag the radars can see a F-35 but sensing that it is in a general area and actually targeting it are two different things and it can't target a F-35 in a practical real world situation.
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sansaset Mar 27, 2026 +86
Man how is India not even consulting Listnook for this type of information before making such a large purchase???
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TldrDev Mar 28, 2026 -21
You ever hear about the time india tried to manufacture a rifle based on the AK platform, arguably the most replicated weapon platform on earth, and still managed to f*** it up so badly that it is widely considered to be one of the worst rifles ever made? I remember. I bet if they consulted listnook, they'd have made a better rifle.
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AdventurousBase221 Mar 28, 2026 +33
idk man, I still remember the time listnook tried to find the Boston bomber. let's not hype up our community too much now.
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supamonkey77 Mar 28, 2026 +17
Ironically whom they found was Indian. That poor poor depressed young man. Rip and hope his family found peace too.
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drae- Mar 28, 2026 +1
We did it!
1
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +20
“Tried to manufacture a rifle based on the AK platform”, this such an easily disproved lie. The old INSAS was not based on the AK just because it was in 7.62, and it was a failure because of bureaucracy primarily, with corruption during requirements setting, evaluation and manufacturing, all of which were ironed out years later.
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AdventurousBase221 Mar 28, 2026 +10
considering we are equally watching the west's systems fail across two warzones I'd say they are on par with each other.
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ODIEkriss Mar 28, 2026 +1
Not failing, we just dont have the stockpiles to keep knocking out $20,000 Shahed drone swarmes.
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StudySpecial Mar 27, 2026 +2
they might be able to deliver the S400 turkey returned to sender, unopened, unused, mint condition
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MixtureSpecial8951 Mar 28, 2026 +5
The Turks have kept their system in storage; not returned to sender.
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ShxxH4ppens Mar 27, 2026 +65
Russia has a few historical instances of not delivering on purchase orders after agreements
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +27
In contrast Israel has delivered everything India ordered on time even after the war in Gaza began a few years ago. That is probably one of the reasons Modi has avoided criticising Netanyahu, even over Iran.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +30
Yeah, from 2022 onwards its been practically non existent until this year. Suggesting their industries have excess capacity despite the crushing loss of stockpiles in UKR
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CyberSoldat21 Mar 27, 2026 +1
They simply are failing to replenish their lost stockpiles so they’re not prioritizing export sales first by the sound of it.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +4
For the things they lack. However some things like drones and S systems seem to be in excess.  Whereas their armor component only exists now at the rate of new production/procurement. So I would be shocked by rank sales. Whereas the Ukr airforce avoids going deep so the S 400s seem to be a deterrent.
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Plastic_Animator5527 Mar 27, 2026 +16
War is business..hardly surprising
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Secret_g_nome Mar 28, 2026 +2
What im surprised by is any kind of surplus for sale!
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BooksandBiceps Mar 27, 2026 +5
All things considered, if this delays Russia putting up more S-500 for their own defense, I’m not that unhappy. Once their air defense falls apart a lot is going to change.
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SignalOptions Mar 27, 2026 +33
Would you prefer they spend 25 billion on American weapons instead? 50% of the world would complain about that too. No good options here.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +4
I would prefer if they were beyond capacity and not getting lifelines to keep fighting. This will help fund more war which sucks for everyone involved.
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SignalOptions Mar 27, 2026 +35
Well china trades about $250 billion/year with russia. Guess the article accidentally left that out, cough oligarchs. Versus india importing $2.5 billion of weapons a year from russia is somehow a bigger problem ?
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +27
You cannot expect the rest of the world to compromise their own economic security and defence to help Ukraine. That's why unsanctioned Russian oil is getting so many buyers now.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +4
Which is why I didn't lay blame or say anything about it. In fact my comment says quite the opposite.
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cinciNattyLight Mar 27, 2026 +2
Russia is by far worse than the US
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +18
Compare the death tolls in Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan/Libya/Syria and Ukraine. It's debatable.
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Becoming_hysterical Mar 27, 2026 +16
Russia was literally in Afghanistan (in the 80s) and Syria.
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Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 +10
and they killed nowhere near the Americans did lol.. US has killed innocents more than all terrorists group, russia, china, india, pakistan, france combined.. only UK with their historical massacres in their colonial rule can compete with USA
10
BooksandBiceps Mar 27, 2026 +11
You missing Mao? Stalin? Holocaust? Cambodian Genocide? If you’re going back to colonial rule. Each of those had millions to tens of millions. I see about 190k civilians killed over more than 20 years for Gulf War 2. That includes by IED, terrorists, lack of resources due to war, and the US military. Russia, in four years, has caused 56k casualties and that number is all Russia. No IED’s or terrorists groups. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/ US - with \*all causes\* including those not due to the US: less than 10k per year. Russia, all due to Russia: 14k per year. So twice as many per year, even if we assume every civilian death in Iraq was specifically the US, and it wasn’t. Maybe research your opinion before getting on a soapbox? This took me two minutes.
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Particular-Boat4194 Mar 28, 2026 +4
America killed 99% of local America...
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BooksandBiceps Mar 28, 2026 +1
Should we break that down between England, actual United States, Spain, France, Russia, and Portugal? Also, talking about colonization from 2-300 years ago is relevant how?
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Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 -6
from supplying weapons to both party of ww 1, ww2, nukes, vietnam war, korean war, iraq war, afgan war, iran war, airstrikes in syria, libya, yemen, indirectly fueling pakistan, myanmar and other nations, thousands of activities of CIA, it's easily mor than 8-10 M.. most of the killings of Mao and stalin wasn't war or invading.. and then again they did atrocities in their own country when usa did to others..
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Dauntless_Idiot Mar 28, 2026 +2
[Soviet-Afghan War: 1–3 million killed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War) in 9 years and 1 month. [War in Afghanistan:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)) 176,206 to 212,191 in 19 years and 10 months. You seem to be using high end estimates so that over 14 times as many killed in the Soviet's war. Go look at the [deadliest wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll) and see how many of them involve just China then all the wars that involve China in addition to other powers. China is clearly number one in war deaths.
2
thecartman85 Mar 27, 2026 -12
I would prefer they build them. 1.5 trillion people can't manage to have a functioning weapons industry! It's sad.
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +12
They do build shorter-range SAMs but they don't match the S-400's capabilities. They're testing a new long-range SAM that could eventually replace the S-400 after 2030.
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LaughingSwordfish Mar 27, 2026 +6
billion
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SignalOptions Mar 27, 2026 +12
They have a big indigenous weapons industry, including supersonic missiles, near-ICBM, submarines, destroyers, tanks, radar and 3-4 gen jets and a nuclear triad. But their 5th gen fighter jets and full indigenization are 10 years away. These are temporary stop gap purchases for very high end weapons. They likely already export $10 billion of weapons themselves. They are historically integrated with French, Israeli and Russian systems rather than Americans ones. Username checks out.
12
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +3
lol how simple and easy do you think it is to make state of the art weapons systems? And Pakistan as almost as much population as the USA, do you also expect them to be on par with the US in weapons development? Come on be real this is such a poorly thought out comment
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TrickTreat2137 Mar 28, 2026 +2
There's no private MIC (atleast the way MIC works in the west) in India. We have state owned defence manufacturing companies. Those companies are either incompetent (in varying levels) and poorly funded by the government or both. And when these companies *can* make weapons, the military & the gov prefers "battle-tested" options from Russia, France, etc. Effectively gutting its own industry & achievements. The 1.5 billion population largely consists of poor people who cannot afford to think about all this and demand for better anything. Which is why India is dirty, disorganised and incompetent.
2
[deleted] Mar 27, 2026 -10
[deleted]
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yaaro_obba_ Mar 27, 2026 +22
The S400 is not sold to either Venezuela or Tehran. Moreover, they did exceptionally well in last year's India-Pakistan skirmishes.
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Roobsi Mar 27, 2026 +6
You're absolutely right, I was getting mixed up. Iran has the s300 and looked like they were going to buy the s400 in 2024 but it never went through. Mea culpa
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RossTheLionTamer Mar 27, 2026 +8
India used them successfully in the recent struggle with Pak. And a weapon failing doesn't necessarily indicate the fault of the weapon.
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +10
The IAF's been operating them for several years and is clearly satisfied with their performance. What works for one country may not work for another.
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Spooknik Mar 27, 2026 +4
It doesn’t. Those system were never going to get delivered.
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Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +9
They delivered the first 3 batteries on time, and the initial Su30-MKIs, and the talwar class frigates, and other stuff. Meanwhile India is still waiting on engines from the US that were supposed to arrive 2 yrs ago, and still haven’t. So everything isn’t as black and white as you think.
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Gloomy_Isopod_1737 Mar 28, 2026 +2
Leave them man, the white saviour syndrome hasn't left them yet, even when the whole western civilization is going to collapse on itself
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cc0537 Mar 27, 2026 +2
Paid is not the same as delivery on hand.
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MaybeTheDoctor Mar 27, 2026 +2
Maybe Russia will just divert the money not actually delivering the goods, just like Switzerland have made payment on missiles and airplanes to USA which won’t actually be delivered.
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Affectionate_Oven_77 Mar 27, 2026 +1
I'm sure the delivery date is well in the future, on the expectation that the war will be over.
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +2
Ive seen other reports of resumed exports previously delayed.
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petar_is_amazing Mar 27, 2026 +2
Maybe, but they are also into year 4 of a war economy so their supply chains and processes for new weaponry are stable and funded. Yeah some factories are getting damaged by strikes but this is still a time window of peak production
2
MachineDog90 Mar 27, 2026 +2
Its more they have no choice, they need the cash and there oil and gas exports have lost a third of thete export capabilities. Its more they got to sell mark up equipment to gain some form of foreign cash regardless of battlefield needs or excess to the customer.
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +1
They don't really need S-400s for intercepting drones, do they?
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +9
Nope, that's for much bigger targets.
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Familiar_Bathroom793 Mar 27, 2026 -3
The shocking news is that people are still buying Russian equipment after multiple failures against US equipment
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Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +5
Its cost effective and better than what most nations have to sell. For nations that produce no arms, c**** russian kit is good enough. Not everyone can afford the Arrow-THAAD-Iron dome combo.
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TrickTreat2137 Mar 28, 2026 +2
It's not like India doesn't want to buy US weapons. Will the US agree to the demands of India like Russia usually does? American weapons can be expensive too.
2
marlinspike Mar 27, 2026 +162
This is the US paying for its support of Pakistan for decades to keep a dog on a leash, rather than supporting India unequivocally which would have been the right thing to do and a natural fit, but the US has always found reason to take all the wrong actions before eventually doing the right thing. India showed the value and resiliency in it's multi-layered defense built on indigenous and Russian weaponry. I'd have preferred if that were American weaponry, but I don't blame India. We should have been a better all-weather ally.
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Single-Ask4738 Mar 27, 2026 +19
Pakistan benefited from the Soviet war in Afghanistan, then the war on terror, and now this war on Iran. It seems like everytime the relationship between the US and Pakistan is cooling off, some new conflict arises where Pakistan suddenly has strategic value again to the US. It's the reason for this several decades long build up of corrupt/evil elements in Pakistan, but hopefully there is a course correction soon.
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lazymomo5 Mar 27, 2026 +83
Finally a balanced take that considers history, instead of the usual "India bad for buying from Russia".
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Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +16
India would have been the 2nd largest operator of f-15s had US not put sanctions on India after its nuclear tests, which forced them to go with the Su30. The shortsightedness of US leadership beggars belief.
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floydiankabir Mar 27, 2026 +12
Spoken maturely and respectfully! Rare these days. Whatever the past was - was a dynamic of cold war alliances in which India obviously was close to Soviet - still non-aligned importantly. That was all almost forgotten since 2008, when India and US signed the nuclear deal after years of sanctions. It took just one man , and a childish whim of nominating for a Nobel, to undo two decades worth of careful diplomacy.
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WorkingCorrect1062 Mar 27, 2026 +50
It is obvious. According the Swiss military history center CHPM: "During the night of 8–9 May, Pakistani forces repeated the manoeuvre, targeting key Indian positions located 100 to 150 kilometres from the border and the Line of Con- trol, including air stations such as Adampur and Srinagar. Long-range S-400 surface- to-air missile batteries, deployed close to the air stations, were considered particular- ly high-priority targets. Indian Army positions were also engaged, while Indian author- ities reported drones approaching the Golden Temple in Amritsar; which were shot down before they could reach the highly symbolic site. This second wave involved the launch of approximately 600 drones, once again combining low-cost devices in- tended to draw enemy fire with more sophisticated attack models, aiming to saturate Indian defences. In addition to Yihaa III drones, the PAF deployed Bayraktar TB2s and Akinci drones operating at higher altitude to engage targets with guided muni- tions, while the Pakistan Army fired several salvos of long-range Fatah I and II artil- lery rockets, as well as short-range Hatf II ballistic missiles. PAF combat aircraft also operated on the periphery of the Indian air-defence bubble, waiting for opportunities to fire air-to-ground ordnance at enemy targets. However, the Pakistani effort again failed to saturate Indian defences or reach critical enemy centres. Indeed, most in- coming munitions were intercepted, while Indian surface-to-air missile battery posi- tions couldn’t be triangulated." This is only one out of 3 waves of attacks. The integrated air defense did spectacularly well. Probably the best in recent times considering Pakistan has a very well equipped military, much more than Iran.
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Sam_Fisher91 Mar 27, 2026 +76
Okay before people go mad 2019 deal which India did before Ukraine war, had a clause for follow on order on same price And second question on S400 performance. It performed well and met Indian expectations in recent conflict. Its one big part of multiple systems Also its very tightly integrated in multi layered defense system that India has and is essential part of its next iteration of Missile defense Any system in isolation can be defeated unless it is tightly integrated with entire network. Israel multi layered system gets overwhelmed sometimes but you can see how well their systems work and is probably the best in the world. But in isolation, those systems may not perform that well S400 is integrated already and it makes sense to buy more before their own system ( Project Kusha) is ready And huge part of that acquisition is Medium transport aircraft
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DrinkAndKnowThings Mar 27, 2026 -96
You're an Indian writing this. Don't say "their" to act like you're neutral. Source: I'm Indian. This is classic "I almost know English" writing that most average joes in India use.
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Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +54
I see nothing wrong about the person you are replying to. I also use "their" mostly because I am not the Indian government and I don't decide the deals so I will refer to the Indian government as "their" even if I am Indian.
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GuaranteeOdd3384 Mar 27, 2026 +20
You okay there, sir?
20
Sam_Fisher91 Mar 27, 2026 +32
I will let you know when i require your certificate of approval on my post. Right now, i couldn’t care less By the way i know you are Indian, colonial hangover bootlickers who think they are better than everyone else, are usually Indian Source : I’m Indian Whole analysis was based on the actual requirement. Hence i didnt write “we” and framed it more on “Government” point of view And i saw your “opinion” on the other comment, you really dont know shit about this. So its better you sit this one out. Also, maybe learn punctuation properly, before commenting on others knowledge of English. Unlike you, i dont run around with an ego of “knowing English”, so its better if you can actually back it up, or else, you look like a proper buffoon
32
blastofffox Mar 27, 2026 +20
As an Indian to Indian, do you believe that India is doing wrong? If yes, what are our options?
20
DrinkAndKnowThings Mar 27, 2026 -32
I have no opinion on it. We already have S400s, they're in the system, we are buying more as already part of the original deal. They're not the best, they're not the worst, they're better than anything Indian can make as of now (India hasn't made anything). Just stop trying to act like you're not Indian, please. It's really pathetic and sad.
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Worldly_Ad_3254 Mar 27, 2026 +10
India has not made anything? u living under a rock or something?
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Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +9
India hasn’t made anything???? And you have the audacity to call someone else pathetic and sad? Irony died a thousand deaths.
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Worldly_Ad_3254 Mar 27, 2026 +14
Op, u should have listed other equipment like the ghatak drones, etc , now everyone will take this at surface level and say india is supporting a genocide by giving russia 25 billion dollars. People would just read the titles and run their mouths
14
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +4
It's mostly for modernization of the Indian soviet era equipment, what can they even realistically do if most of the tech is Soviet/90sRussian era. They will have to keep importing stuff till they replace everything.
4
Worldly_Ad_3254 Mar 27, 2026 +7
understandable, im just pointing out these people would see anything related russia and frame whatever country making deals with them as helping them commit genocide in ukraine
7
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +3
Russia/China trade is around $250 billion but no one can point fingers at China now.
3
Worldly_Ad_3254 Mar 27, 2026 +4
calm down what ur using too much of ur brain, its just the usual bias western media has against india and simping for china , half of the people commenting here dont even know about chinas muslim population genocide, yet these medias give the morale talk about ukraine's genocide, pure propaganda by the west
4
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +5
Man Reuters is now a rag on the level of daily mail and the sun. This is such a disingenuous headline, the medium transport aircraft is most likely going to be the airbus a400 or embraer c390, so Europe or Brazil. And the drones being acquired will be Israeli or US in addition to homegrown drones as well. The S400 is the only Russian purchase but they made the headline that way to mislead and get more clicks. Shameful
5
Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 +16
i mean you have any better options? the 2nd option is US's THAAD that is getting destroyed by fking Iran 😭 and also you need permission of US everytime you use it, US can anytime lock it with softwares in critical moment..
16
UltraBakait Mar 27, 2026 +6
They should also mention how much we are getting in exchange of this money. You can't solve problems just by throwing money at them.
6
Chuupi_Chaapa Mar 27, 2026 +25
We are getting what we are paying for. What do you mean? We desperately need these systems, while our own indigenous systems are in development.
25
3rdhouseonleft Mar 27, 2026 +18
why would anyone invest in russian hardware after seeing what has been done to it in ukraine?
18
lostwisdom20 Mar 27, 2026 +92
Russia is bad at integration, India is good at it but bad at hardware. India has been doing this with russian hardware since inception. Indians buy the hardware and upgrade how they like as russia offers ToT or access to software needed for integration which the west doesn't. Hence integrating russian hardware with existing defence capabilities is easier than to be locked in into a ecosystem which depends on western moods and also money.
92
grumpoholic Mar 27, 2026 -31
Yeah the people who made and researched the air defence systems are bad at integrating it, I swear the delusions. And what do you mean by "integration"? They are not the one with a hodge podge military. Their weapon systems are born integrated into all levels. The real explanation is that Russia is simply fighting a different intensity of conflict, losses are inevitable.
-31
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +8
Yes they are bad at integrating it into their military doctrine, which is abysmal in russias case anyway. They didn’t defend their S400s earlier in the war from small drones, whereas India did with upgraded soviet anti aircraft guns, new laser weapons systems, and electronic jamming, making AD layers of different effectiveness and different engagement capabilities.
8
grumpoholic Mar 28, 2026 +1
Yeah only India thought of doing that, like they don't have a layers in their air defense in their doctrine. They already have pantsir/osa systems for intermediate drones. You are forgetting that India fought a very limited war of 3 days before Pakistan folded before our offensive capabilities. Ukraine is very very different with respect to terrain, strategic depth and the scope of the operation. Literally any country's weapon systems and airdefence would suffer the same fate in Ukraine. Air defence is not infalliable, sooner or later they will start getting blown up in a protracted war. Just look at the US anti air radars getting blown up by Iranian ballistic missiles.
1
MartinLubHerThingJr Mar 27, 2026 +19
You maybe right in this case but in general like it is not necessary that someone who build hardware is great at software too. Some people are niche at what they do.
19
grumpoholic Mar 27, 2026 -5
This is absolutely not true not at a national level at least which is the context we are discussing. There are many great Russian engineers and computer scientists, far more than India. If you did any computer science or control theory you would know, hell take a look at the leaderboard of competetive programming contests. They have vertical integration top to bottom no questions about that. Yes, they have some dependency on foreign components like embedded system computers, but that doesn't matter much at the level they are operating. India can integrate improved israeli radar on the old su30 airframes, but there's no such thing happening on the s400. Also, It's not Java code running inside these machines that India can use it's enterprise software expertise.
-5
grumpoholic Mar 27, 2026 +34
How would you compare it to THAADs getting destroyed by an opponent that has been bombed and sanctioned to high hell? To me it seems all air defence has its limits and theres a lot of propaganda about the effectiveness. Needless to say they wouldn't be buying more if it proved completely useless.
34
Aggravating_Bus655 Mar 27, 2026 +9
S400s worked pretty well in the recent Indo-Pakistan conflict.
9
badass708 Mar 27, 2026 +59
Most russian hardware is junk but s400 is an exception. It world pretty well against Pak(Chinese) missiles during op sindoor. India hit several Pakistani air bases while Pak couldn't hit any Indian installations. S400 played a huge part in this defence. Hence india is stocking up.
59
Important-Emu-6691 Mar 27, 2026 +20
Probably because to people who is actually professional and analyzing it it looks a lot better than you believe. It’s not like any Russian hardware has been shown to be ineffective for obsolete against state of the art western hardware. They are just not as good.
20
TheNewGildedAge Mar 27, 2026 +8
Social media hates nuance. Either it's state of the art or it's useless, pick one
8
kw10001 Mar 27, 2026 +5
RU SAM systems have always been top tier. The S400 is excellent.
5
DeciusCurusProbinus Mar 27, 2026 +11
Indian indigenous systems integrate well with Russian systems. The S-400 and India's indigenous systems performed very well in last year's skirmish with Pakistan. Despite the volume of drones and missiles launched at Indian territory, damage was relatively light. Even standoff munitions like the Brahmos (a JV between India and Russia) performed very well. The Su-30MKI is the IAF's bread and butter fighter and although India manufactures it indigenously, HAL still imports some components from Russia. 
11
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +30
Ukraine is using soviet hardware too.
30
synergisticmonkeys Mar 27, 2026 +3
Soviet, not Russian. A lot of it is old stock too, like modified t72s/84s. It's sort of like how people rave about old PYREX and hate on the new stuff.
3
InterestingSpeaker Mar 27, 2026 +23
Most Russian hardware is soviet hardware
23
3rdhouseonleft Mar 27, 2026 -14
true but what is devastating russia is western technology or modern ukranian made weapons. At this moment ukraine has jumped leaps and bounds over a majority of other countries when it comes top military power and experience as they are now teaching europe and the west on how to defeat russian made hardware from proven combat use.
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Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +18
That’s what India is doing too. Buy Russian jets and put Israeli radars, French and Indigenous missiles on them.
18
1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +4
Because it has worked well for India against Pakistan. Different experiences.
4
Chuupi_Chaapa Mar 27, 2026 +8
What happened in the beginning of the Ukraine conflict was russia not using their AD systems effectively and not layering them with smaller ADs' but as the conflict has matured you can see how they have adopted a more effective approach in their use of AD. So the system is not to be blamed but it's tactical deployment and In the case of India, it knows how to use its systems against its adversaries.
8
3rdhouseonleft Mar 27, 2026 +9
4 years later whats their excuse. AD systems still getting rocked. all the burning refineries and dead troops say different. and by adversaries you mean people who are also using russian hardware?
9
Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +7
Because the S400 is built to intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles. Its an expensive but long range interceptor. Ukr has been hitting refineries with drones. Low flying drones can fly under the radar required for S400 action. Drones are comparatively quiet and have very tiny heat signatures and small radar cross sections. The S400 was designed under cold war parameters to intercept bomber and ICBMs. They have had to adapt to drones with other systems with lower cost. In fact some old style mounted cannons are way more cost effective. Having a layered strategy works bes.
7
Chuupi_Chaapa Mar 27, 2026 +4
I agree that russian AD systems are still getting targeted and hit but I believe the number of systems that were destroyed has decreased. There is only so much you can protect, you are bound to be hit sooner or later, it's a matter of time and who runs out and takes more time to replenish, in case of India, it has anti drone system set up consisting of auto guns and even soft kill systems, with more hard kill systems in the pipeline, so it's S400 were able to operate safely. As for the adversaries, pakistan uses chinese HQ-9E which was battered and destroyed and the Chinese use russian derived AD but have also developed their own AD systems now.
4
3rdhouseonleft Mar 27, 2026 +5
yea the cinese systems got smacked around in iran, pakistan and venezuela. Not that western ones wont end up feeling it too int he next fight but not in the way these other systems are getting it. I am waiting to see what ukraine builds on their own. (they were the brains behind a majority of soviet weaponry.
5
Ancient-Bat1755 Mar 27, 2026 +1
To buy c**** oil at a wash. Russia doesnt even have capacity to build this c*** for themselves much less export
1
AdventurousBase221 Mar 28, 2026 +1
the alternative is largely america. and we are equally watching those fail in real time too now.
1
Aromatic_Ideal_2770 Mar 27, 2026 +1
They are not investing in Russian hardware, they are just buying someone
1
Secret_g_nome Mar 27, 2026 +6
Its not their first purchase of Ru weapons.
6
TWFH Mar 27, 2026
They don't give a shit about morality.
0
Kaito__1412 Mar 27, 2026 +4
Has Russia delivered any weapons systems in the past 3 years?
4
Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 +13
according to news next month india will get it's 4th s400 battery and there are some unconfirmed news that Russia is going to build a factory to produce s400 missiles in india in uttarpradesh
13
Kaito__1412 Mar 27, 2026 -4
So no? Also Russian weapons manufacturing on indian soil will be the end of any Indo-European relationship. It makes no sense for Europe to have a free trade agreement with a national that is producing the arsenal of another nation that is actively attacking you.
-4
Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 +13
geopolitics isn't that easy lol.. india already manufactures many parts of su30, t90, russian rifles, s400 spare parts lol.. weapons produced in india are of the export varient, russia wouldn't even need them to use.. any country will not have a problem as song as gheri IP isn't getting stolen, infact even though china actively steals and do reverse engineering still many countries build their factories there.. so i guess even in that case as long as profit is coming and it's not a huge breach, most countries ignore it..
13
Kaito__1412 Mar 27, 2026 +2
Those are small arms and obsolete airframes. Producing "modern" systems like the s400 that Russia has trouble producing themselves because of supply chain disruption and helping Russia by moving production is a step too far. We'll see how this plays out. But I doubt this will ever happen.
2
Stock_Friendship_237 Mar 27, 2026 +9
you missed su30, t90 mate.. also 2-3 kilo class submarines were assembled in india
9
Kaito__1412 Mar 27, 2026 +2
During this current invasion of Ukraine?
2
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 28, 2026 +1
They did supply a Talwar class frigate during the war
1
grchelp2018 Mar 27, 2026 +4
I imagine the manufacturing will be for india's own consumption.
4
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +6
Lmao India can manufacture whatever they want on their soil, and Europe will keep their FTA because it is still beneficial to Europe to do so, (not like they have many options seeing how china, USA and friends are). Besides India has developed weapons jointly with Russia before like the Brahmos. All of Russian weapons manufactured in India are used by India anyway, so your point is moot regardless. Also Su30s are not obsolete in the same way f16s, f18s and f15s are not obsolete. Especially the new upgraded ones with better avionics and weapon systems. “We'll see how this plays out. But I doubt this will ever happen.” lol it’s happening already no matter what you think
6
DeciusCurusProbinus Mar 27, 2026 +6
The goal is to pay them to keep the relationship going and cajole them to transfer the technology for indigenous manufacturing. 
6
Indalec Mar 28, 2026 +1
Where do you think Algeria got their SU-57?
1
Kaito__1412 Mar 28, 2026 +1
How many?
1
Indalec Mar 28, 2026 +1
So far two units already delivered.
1
Kaito__1412 Mar 28, 2026 +1
I see. Anything else in the past 3 years?
1
Indalec Mar 28, 2026 +2
SU-35s for Algeria and S-400s for India.
2
Kaito__1412 Mar 28, 2026 +1
So 2 airframes and 1 air defence system in the past 3 years? Oef...
1
Indalec Mar 28, 2026 +2
Also Yak-130 for Iran and probably other systems to central Asia and Africa.
2
oldbutfeisty Mar 27, 2026 +7
American influence continues to wane.
7
yaaro_obba_ Mar 27, 2026 +37
India placed an order for over 200 GE F404 engines, the first order for 99 engines was placed in 2021 and the second order for 113 engines was placed in 2024. GE promised to deliver 2 engines per month between July 2025 and Match 2026. They have delivered a grand total of 5 engines till date. We have LCA Tejas jets manufactured and waiting on the factory floor for those damn engines. It doesn't seem like the US(or more specifically, GE) wants to have any influence on India.
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1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +15
It is past time India cancelled that deal and found a replacement engine for the Tejas.
15
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +32
They never had it in the first place. India mostly bought Soviet/Russian/British tech before they shifted to a mix of Indigenous/Israeli/French/American tech.
32
bappestinian Mar 28, 2026 +2
Worked well for Venezuela and Iran against modern aircraft. /s
2
[deleted] Mar 27, 2026 +1
[deleted]
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Puzzled_Cold_3906 Mar 27, 2026 +4
In small conflict between India and pak, this system was tested in real time. And it was heavily praised by all Indians so interception of majority of missiles, so why won't india buy this more when USA is supporting Pakistan openly
4
Opposite-Arrival9994 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Amazing that India is still happy being the worlds largest arms importer without a homegrown supply. Even as sad as Chinas equivalents are, at least they have the basic infrastructure to now make most things. Another good will gesture never hurt anyone though.
1
ryizer Mar 28, 2026 +1
Long term India is building it's own S400 replacement though with Project Kusha. It might take until mid-2030s though.
1
IntentionPlus15 Mar 27, 2026 -6
the same s-400 that barely works
-6
TrickTreat2137 Mar 28, 2026 +3
Should have gone for the THAADs that Iran is stomping on.
3
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026 -62
Spending that much on S-400 systems that have been proven useless is wiiiild. Indians need to do something about their military -- this seems like corruption more than sense. India should just develop their own system. They're smarter and have more native talent than Russia by a long shot.
-62
Fair-Highlight-3544 Mar 27, 2026 +54
It did pretty well in the Pakistan conflict to be honest. The only thing that would crumble it is the USA military and we're not fighting them anytime soon. And yeah, we are aiming to domestically develop more stuff but we can't run with empty quivers till then lol.
54
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026 -34
China would roll over it too (which is who I'm worried about re: China). Honestly, I wish India would just invade and disarm Pakistan. But I know that sort of thing isn't India's jam.
-34
mauch_chunk Mar 27, 2026 +42
Pretty sure invading a nuclear capable nation isn’t anyone’s “jam”
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Fair-Highlight-3544 Mar 27, 2026 +17
Agreed. it would be a clusterfuck from which nobody wins. And honestly as much as I hate the military junta - terrorist nexus that runs Pakistan and sows a lot of discontent in India I don't think the ordinary people deserve nuclear fallout, and I'm concerned about my own people too obviously.
17
mindful-hedonism Mar 27, 2026 +5
It’ll disintegrate one day anyway. Why bother
5
DeciusCurusProbinus Mar 27, 2026 +13
India is the last nation in Asia that the Chinese want to invade. If they do so, they will get bogged down in the mountains and both sides will suffer tens of thousands of casualities. They will screw up their already damaged demographics and expend valuable munitions for a few hundred square kilometres of barren land. If they get tied down in a war in India, their dream of invading Taiwan will remain just a dream.
13
Fair-Highlight-3544 Mar 27, 2026 +7
We've always been retaliatory. It comes with it's flaws but it's served us well so far. An all out nuclear war with Pakistan would benefit no one and would irradiate the entire subcontinent. China is less of a military threat and more of a PR threat imo cause every year we develop slower than them is a flaw, and they invest heavily in the indian hate train online.
7
No_Tree_8144 Mar 27, 2026 +35
india seems to have realllyyy liked how the s-400 performed last year with pakistan. idk if the Russians are just incompetent at using their own tech, or what exactly the issue is tho. but India's actually developing their own indigenous S-500 equivalent called "project kusha". they just finished the ground trials successfully. after all the testing is officially done its expected to be inducted by 2028 and fully deployed by 2030. they might be buying the s-400 which they seem to be satisfied with as a backup, in case their own project gets delayed. although honestly idek if buying them from Russia at this moment is going to mean they get their system any time soon
35
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026 +4
>India's actually developing their own indigenous S-500 equivalent called "project kusha". they just finished the ground trials successfully. after all the testing is officially done its expected to be inducted by 2028 and fully deployed by 2030. I didn't know that. That's very cool and I'm glad for them. India has been getting dicked around by China and Pakistan way too long. >they might be buying the s-400 which they seem to be satisfied with as a backup If their immediate concern is Pakistan, I can see that making sense.
4
No_Tree_8144 Mar 27, 2026 +3
I agree. they've been reducing their Russian military imports by a bit now, and I'd say this is probably going to be their last "big ticket" purchase from Russia. the other one is probably the Rafaels cuz they *aim* to start inducting their own 5th gen fighter jets within a decade at the latest, by which point their entire military industrial complex would be deomestic. while they are always moving away from Russia over the years, the Ukrainian war seems to have lit a fire under their ass. 10 years ago they would've just tried to buy the Russian s-500 but they must've realized theres NO way they couldn't make a better version themselves and started funding project kusha in 2023.
3
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +11
India already has their own defence systems(Akash and Prithvi) but they don’t have a longer range. Other than that they also have the S-300, S-400, Barak(jointly developed with Israel), Spyder(Israel) and the Tunguska. Even Ukraine uses the S-300 and Tunguska so I don’t understand the bias against Soviet tech. There are multiple indigenous systems under development so they need a buffer till they are in full production.
11
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026 -4
Ukraine uses it b/c it's better than nothing and they have almost nothing. Russia's tech is garbage though, and India is impressively superior to Ukraine economically and in terms of native engineering talent.
-4
Wafflars Mar 27, 2026 +2
Is that an entirely new system with nothing in common for S-400? I mean otherwise I can see the use for buying what the world now see as garbage S-400 on c**** sale and then upgrading it…
2
HoveringMango Mar 27, 2026 +6
S400 standalone is shit, but integrated with other layers works pretty well. India used L70 ( Sweden) modified version to shoot down drones for c**** as well.
6
roneyxcx Mar 27, 2026 +7
S-400 can fire a few different missiles giving it a bit more versatility. The Patriot only has two different missiles with a few sub types of each. Not only that S-400 has more range and can track more targets. Also Patriot missiles are "kinetic kill" vs "explosive warheads" in S400. S-400 offers 360-degree engagement capabilities without moving launchers, which at least the current Patriot system sold to allies cannot do. Lastly S400 is cheaper per missile and the production is much higher than Patriot system. Patriot is often considered a "niche" system (hard-point defense) while S-400 is a "jack-of-all-trades" system. In the last conflict S400 worked very well for India.
7
1-randomonium Mar 27, 2026 +7
> Spending that much on S-400 systems that have been proven useless is wiiiild. > > Proven useless by whom and where? They worked very well for India last year when Pakistan launched hundreds of missiles and drones at them.
7
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026 -1
Ukraine. Ukraine has destroyed countless S-400 systems with $500 drones.
-1
Puzzled_Cold_3906 Mar 27, 2026 +5
And USA systems were destroyed by Iran $100 drone. Whats your point ? Are USA systems this bad? Since we talking about systems getting destroyed by drone as their indicator of how good system is
5
1-randomonium Mar 28, 2026 +1
Well, India isn't at war with Ukraine and has no intention of doing so anytime soon.
1
kw10001 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Russian air defenses are arguably the best in the world. While the US invests in stealth and a lot of 4th/5th gen fighters, Russia has always spent most of their R&D on airspace denial.
1
Philo_Publius1776 Mar 27, 2026
No, they're not. They've been humiliated in Ukraine. Their air defenses are trash.
0
Puzzled_Cold_3906 Mar 27, 2026 +5
And American systems are getting humiliated in UAE Saudi Arabia where embassies were hit, Amazon data center was hit So if Russia can't make good defense systems, who can make? Certainly america failing too
5
Future-Analyst-6677 Mar 28, 2026 +1
What? They’re far from useless. Just last year the S400 shot down an AWACS/electronic warfare aircraft scoring the longest surface to air kill ever, in addition the 10s of aircraft also shot down by the S400. A good weapon in the hands of incompetent people isn’t going to work well regardless of how great it is. China isn’t going to be rolling over anyone let alone India of all countries. Not only is the terrain completely inhospitable, but they have next to no experience in an actual protracted war. Their air defense systems could t even protect Pakistan against loitering munitions, supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles are going to be a whole different ball game. They can try salami slicing all they want they’ve stopped after the 2020 doklam clashes and haven’t tried since, because they know what’ll happen.
1
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026
I mean even Ukraine is using old soviet jets and air defence system and they are stalemating Russia with that. It looks like Russian incompetence or underestimation more than the equipment quality itself.
0
[deleted] Mar 27, 2026
[deleted]
0
Chuupi_Chaapa Mar 27, 2026 +4
?? When did india buy anything from china? India does not buy any military tech from china.
4
mmoore327 Mar 27, 2026
Can't find the articles I recalled seeing - must be wrong about that.
0
Uchiha_Madara_Nipple Mar 27, 2026 +3
There are no Chinese systems bought by India?
3
mmoore327 Mar 27, 2026
Can't find the articles I recalled seeing - must be wrong about that.
0
big-papito Mar 27, 2026 +2
China's systems did not perform well against China's planes, you say?
2
IntelArtiGen Mar 27, 2026 -4
> India should just develop their own system. I'm also surprised they haven't. It seems like a major weakness if they still can't do it, I also think they have enough talents to do it, they have 10 times more people than Russia.
-4
hgwellsrf Mar 27, 2026 +7
There's one, Project Kusha. It's under development. Current S-400 procurement is a stop-gap solution. https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-is-project-kusha-air-defence-programme-inside-india-s-bid-to-build-a-homegrown-s-400-killer-1769602275417
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Excellent_Safe_1915 Mar 27, 2026 +9
There are a couple short range air defence missile systems like AKASH. But no indigenous long range SAMs. There has been some early tests of the one under development, which seems to be successful. And that's why India declined afaik to join Russia's S500 program despite the invitation. This purchase of additional S400s is likely to bridge the gap till the other system reaches maturity
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